


When the Flower Blooms

by Fiery_Mullet



Series: IORiKU Countdown 2017 [3]
Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 14:29:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiery_Mullet/pseuds/Fiery_Mullet
Summary: Prompt: Mechanical Lullaby AU with Terra and Jane spending time in library. Fluff.





	When the Flower Blooms

**When the Flower Blooms**

Towering bookshelves filled with books of all sizes and colorful bindings surrounded the impressive library counter made of varnished wood. At the very center of the magnificent building was the librarian, whose long dark locks neatly tied in a pontytail lightly fluttered behind him as he walked about, organizing the book returns in a bronze cart.

"That's the last of it." He sighed, sliding in one last title at the end of the nicely lined up books in the cart.

There were only two of them in the entire building at the moment, as it was the time of day when other robot dolls are out and about busy doing their jobs. The only sounds that could be heard were the shuffling of the books and his own footsteps, and not the slightest bit of sound came from the other robot doll.

"He's being awfully quiet."

He looked up at the second floor, where more bookshelves shorter than the ones in the main floor were. Grabbing a yellow orange acrylic blanket draped over the back rest of one of the chairs, he went up and headed for the shelves labeled 'Fiction I-M'.

At the bottom of the shelf, a crimson-haired robot doll clad in boyish steam-punk fashion was dozing, loosely holding a thick open book in his lap.

"Again?" The librarian softly chuckled.

He softly put the blanket over the sleeping doll and went about the task he left earlier.

-x-

The sleeping robot doll's eyelids fluttered open, revealing eyes sporting two different colors- one of a crimson rose and the other of a marigold. He stretched, making the blanket slide down his shoulders.

"Ah," He chuckled. "Jane-san is so nice."

He closed the book, neatly folded the blanket, then got up to put the book back in the shelf. He stopped at the top of the wide spiral staircase and saw Jane at the library counter, who also looked up at him. He flinched at first when his eyes met Jane's soft silver ones, then relaxed into a smile when the librarian called out his name.

"Terra."

Terra hurried down the stairs, his short crimson locks bouncing lightly with each step.

"Jane-saaan! The book you recommended to me this morning was so interesting!"

Jane smiled.

"Yes, I can tell you liked it. It's one of the thickest books in this library and you were already halfway through it."

"Oh but I couldn't stop! I got to the part where police officer discovers the kind doctor wasn't really his older brother! And then he got kidnapped by their group! And then, and then...!"

Terra's stomach growled, eliciting an amused chuckle from Jane.

"You were so engrossed, you haven't eaten anything all day. Would you like to join me for late lunch?"

"Of course!!!"

Terra's excitement at getting to eat together with Jane again dissipated when he realized the time.

"Ah, Jane-san, you haven't eaten lunch yet either?! Is it because of me? I'm sorry..."

He apologized, eyes downcast.

Jane couldn't help but reach for the robot doll's cheek, red strands brushing the back of his fingers.

"Terra, don't make that face. I was just busy, there were more book returns than usual this morning. You didn't do anything wrong, okay?"

Terra leaned into his touch. "Mm!"

Then his eyes sparkled as he grabbed Jane's hand and asked a very important question.

"Can we go to Capsaicin today?"

Terra grinned expectantly. Jane sighed. It was a face he could never say no to.

"Fine."

-x-

Jane let out a big sigh.

"I told him not to get the chef's recommendation."

He looked wearily at Terra, who was knocked out on the table.

Even Meir, the silver-haired robot doll with a deceptively harmless-looking face who made the food, was shocked to see how today's special was so lethal the poor kid didn't have time to ask for water. Terra just wordlessly passed out.

"Meir... why..."

"April?"

Even Meir's regular taste-tester, known to both Jane and Terra as a daredevil who fearlessly defies the laws of physics (and traffic) when he drives looked with horror at the dish Terra had barely eaten a spoonful of.

"Why would you put more of the red stuff than rice in your special omelette rice?!"

"But it looked more colorful that way!!! Plus that red stuff tastes really good! So the more the better right? Right?!"

Meir looked helplessly at the two.

The two looked at each other.

And heaved a deep sigh devoid of hope.

Meir frowned dejectedly.

"I'm sorry... I'll apologize to Terra-kun when he wakes up."

"I'll take him back to the library for now."

Jane bent down to put Terra's arms around him, then lifted the shorter robot doll on his back, giving him a piggy-back ride.

"Can you carry him by yourself? Need help?," asked April.

"No, thanks. I've got it. Despite being a fellow robot doll, he's actually not that heavy."

Meir chuckled, cheering up a bit at the sight of Terra looking so comfortable on Jane's back.

"You look like you've done this before."

"Yes," Jane began, as he adjusted Terra on his back. "Once, Novem-san came with Octo-san to borrow a book about small robots, they mentioned something about trying to create robot insects. At that time, Terra happened to be in the same section reading about robot dolls, and he was taking a nap in front of the shelf where we needed to get the book. Novem-san said he looked so comfortable sleeping and he didn't have the heart to wake him up, so Octo-san proposed to carry him instead."

"It's just like him to say that..."

"Octo-san is so cool."

"Yes, but for some reason I didn't want him to touch Terra, so before he could, I put Terra's arms around me and lifted him up myself."

"Hmmm..."

Meir and April stared at him, knowing smile on their faces.

"Princess carry, eh. Jane, you're quite manly too." April whistled.

"I... I just thought it would be more time efficient to just move him out of the way than wake him up!" Jane said in one breath, before adding "Thanks for the food!" and briskly walking out of the restaurant.

-x-

By the time Terra woke up in the library, it was already dark outside. In front of him, he saw that the brown and gold double doors were already locked and only a few gas lamps were still left on- which also meant it was already past closing time.

Terra wondered why he was still there, lying on his side on one of the couches by the main entrance, and then remembered the events at Capsaicin earlier that day.

"Wait, so how did I get back here...?" he frowned, turning so that he was now lying on his back.

"Terra, are you awake?"

Terra looked up and saw Jane's face above him, peering over a book, before finally realizing that he had been using the other robot doll's lap as pillow the entire time he slept.

"Jane-san! I... I'm sorry!!!"

"Terra, watch ou...!"

He got up so abruptly he hit his nose on the hardbound book's spine.

"Owowow..."

Jane set the book aside and slowly laid Terra's head back on his lap.

"Geez, please be more careful. Are you okay?"

Terra nodded, rubbing his nose.

"Is it crooked?," He asked Jane.

Looking at Terra's face, Jane remembered the pictures of puppies he saw in a book about humans and domesticated animals. He couldn't help but laugh.

"Ja... Jane-san?! Is it crooked after all???!"

Terra looked confused.

"No, no. It's still in perfect shape. Though if it did get bent, it would probably make you look cu..." Jane caught himself in time and cleared his throat. "... Funnier. Yes, funnier."

"Wha...? So mean!"

Terra puffed his cheeks and roused. This time, careful not to hit anything. And as soon as he sat up, his stomach growled.

Jane got up and, looking at a sulking Terra who was avoiding his eyes, said with a knowing smile.

"By the way, as an apology, Meir-san said we should come by tonight for dinner. It's on the house. He promised to make your favorite omelette rice."

Seeing Terra's face visibly pale even in the dimly lit building, he added "From the regular menu, that is."

Terra relaxed upon hearing the last part. And then his stomach growled again.

"Shall we go and have dinner?"

At the mention of food, Terra finally met his eyes and smiled.

Somewhere deep inside Jane, he could feel something changing within him. He didn't know what it was, but what he did know for sure was when it started- and that was the day Terra first came to this library.

If he tried to put it into words, it was like a flower blooming. Dissen once said that as robot dolls, they will never truly know what it's like to be human. But doing something humans also did, which was taking care of flowers, letting them grow, and watching them bloom... the feeling that it gave him was possibly the closest he could ever get to understanding them.

Jane wondered if, just like raising a flower, he will also understand these mysterious feelings once they bloom.

However, before that time came, the earth and the sky met to sing their lullaby- putting all the robot dolls in their world to sleep.

Maybe someday...

When they wake up once again...

When the library opens once again...

When the robot doll with the sweetest smile he had ever seen walks in through those double doors once again...

And calls his name in that beloved voice.

**The End**

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimers: Not mine. Original story credited to Tsushimi Bunta and BNOI.
> 
> Terra, your character is so hard to write. It's so hard to balance both polite and cute AND OH SO CHARMING all at the same time!
> 
> I kept typing Iori while writing this fic and wanted to slap myself... And since I don't have wifi in my apartment and have run out of cellular data to hotspot, I'm typing all these fics on my phone, without access to Word's useful features such autocorrect and find + replace. So if you find any Iori's in there or typos in general, my apologies T_T


End file.
